ESP launches new analogue addressable fire protection range

10-06-2014

Having successfully operated within the conventional fire systems market for 11 years, ESP has developed a comprehensive range of analogue addressable fire protection devices that takes the company into a brand new sector of the fire protection industry.

The new Fireline MagPro range brings to existing and potential ESP customers a comprehensive product line up that is fully compliant with the very latest Construction Products Regulation 2011 (CPR) which came into force on 1st July 2013.

The most significant regulation to affect the construction industry in a decade, it means that it is now mandatory for manufacturers to apply CE marking to any of their products which are covered by a harmonised European standard (hEN) or European Technical Assessment (ETA). This is a major change as affixing of CE marking under the provisions of the Construction Products Directive (CPD) had been voluntary in the UK. In addition to the CE marking it is also mandatory that life and safety critical products have to be third party tested and approved by an independent third party test house.

Meeting all the regulatory criteria, the Fireline MagPro analogue addressable system is designed for larger system applications, overcoming the limitations of conventional fire alarm systems. With conventional systems each zone is wired using a separate circuit, to enable the source of a fire alarm to be identified. In the event of a fire alarm being triggered, the panel can only identify which zone contains the triggered device, it is then necessary to manually search the affected zone to discover the actual cause of the alarm.

Analogue addressable systems use a loop circuit which can have multiple zones on each and means that large numbers of devices can be incorporated into each loop. This offers a great cost advantage to the installer as it reduces the amount of cable needed to wire the same quantity of devices and therefore saves on installation time.

Each fire detecting sensor or call point is electronically coded with a unique 'address'. The control panel is then able to conduct two way communication with any of the addressable devices connected to the system by using the unique address number to define which device it wishes to communicate with. The panel can ascertain whether each device is functioning correctly and also discover the amount of smoke or heat that the device is currently sensing. This technology allows the panel to make 'intelligent' decisions as to the appropriate action to take based on the information it receives from the individual sensors.

Another benefit of analogue addressable fire systems is the reduction of false alarms due to the advanced control panels which constantly monitor the air flowing through the smoke detectors.

ESP’s Fireline MagPro addressable fire alarm panel can be expanded from 1 to 4 loops, with each one capable of supporting up to 250 devices and offering a maximum of 96 programmable zones. The colour touch screen assists in easy setup / monitoring and allows viewing of up to 10,000 system event logs. Where larger systems are required, it is possible for up to a total of 32 panels to be networked together.

The MagPro range of devices include detectors for heat and smoke, resettable call points and sounders.